For all you explorers, inventors, and crafters, there's this relatively new game called Minecraft

It's very simple in that it's simply a randomly-generated open world, and your objective is to just do whatever you want. You start with nothing, and by use of different materials, exploring the world, finding underground caves, and crafting different tools, you can make just about anything you want. The new "red ore" even allows you to make electricity into switches and other devices.

The game is currently in Alpha, and you can play the builder mode (Minecraft Classic) for free. Minecraft Classic functions on online servers, so you can see people build some amazing things.

If you want the survival mode for your own personal world, you have to pay something like $15.00 USD. You could try the Minecraft Classic to see if you like the game, and then purchase the Alpha version. If you take any interest, you might want to buy it now, as the price is going to double when the game hits Beta.

BEWARE! You might dig yourself into a dungeon full of zombies, skeletons, and other monsters who you will have to fight off with your own custom-made swords!

Also, this is an Indi game by a guy in Sweden. Pretty cool for one dude!

I only wish I had the creative mind to make such awesome things in this game. My artistic talents in crafting and construction are limited

Plans for the GW2Guru Minecraft server!

Step 1: Create a Classic Minecraft map using Omen.

This actually won't be that difficult. It's similar to other map editors I've used. Basically I create two images. The first determines the rough topography of the map (I think I actually have one of those kicking around somewhere).

The other I can just use the basic map of Tyria. The editor does all the heavy lifting for me, as it pick the tile that is the closest fit to the color of the map (Which means that the Shiverpeaks should come out as snow, Mal), and lays it on top of the preloaded topography.

A trickier part of this process is figuring out what section of the map to use. I need to find the constraints of the map size in Minecraft, and use that to figure out how much of Tyria I can use to evoke the same sense of scale.

(If anyone has some time to kill researching that scale feel free to shoot me some numbers.)

Step 2: Convert to Alpha

Next, MCEdit should let me import this Classic map to Alpha. From there, I can fine tune the map and determine any ways that it might be improved using the 3d editor.

Step 3: Set up the Server

Probably the trickiest part for me. It'll take some research, but the forums look pretty stuffed. The biggest concerns for me in this step are these:

- Server requirements (What kind of rig do I need to commit to this?)- What's the max player load it can hold before becoming unbearable?

- Persistence- Do I need to have the server running 24/7 to preserve the map?- Can we save the progress for future collabs?

As far as I remember price is around 10$, not 15$.
And the guy sold over 140000 copies, so yeah you can easily calculate that he got quie a bit of funds now ^^
No wonder Valve was talking with him. Question is, about what?
They might be interested in hiring him, but I rather think they probably talked about making minecraft avallibe via stream.

I've been playing it for a few days now. I've set up my fort on top of a mountain and have several tunnels leading to other forts.
At one point I came across a HUGE cave system and found loads of diamond, then ofcourse, I died of lava and couldn't retrieve it all

I started playing the classic version a few months back and after a few weeks caved and bought Alpha. Creepers hate me in both Single Player and Survival Multiplayer (one of my houses in SMP has been blown up by a Creeper 5 times since they were added to multi last week). Got myself a nice fort in Single Player in one of the snow worlds.

Its popularity has surged recently due to the comic strips and Youtube videos that have popped up. Heres a popular one.

He died and lost his items. When you are killed all your items drop to the floor and remain there for awhile before disappearing. You are then transported back to where you first spawned when the world was created which means if your base was far away, your going to have some trouble locating it. The explosion probably damaged the chests meaning he lost alot of stuff.

Classic aswell as being free is "Creative" where the only thing you do is build anything you want with an unlimited amount of blocks.

Alpha isnt free and has Survival, where your thrown into a world and have to survive in it - you mine your materials, craft items/tools and build your home to keep yourself safe from the monsters that appear every night. Also there are cave systems found all over which go deep down and often contain monsters lurking in the dark (and the occasional "Dungeon" which is a rarely found room with chests and a magic box inside it that spawns certain monsters). Alpha also has Survival Multiplayer which is exactly what i said above but with other players around you aswell. Alpha is still under heavy development despite being available to buy and play (which is why its current price is only half of what it will be when its done).

I'm not sure what to do in Minecraft any more, I feel like I've 'won' it. With a system of water traps and red dust switches I'm able to bring to me and trap (or kill, via a pit) any mob I desire. I also have water worked in such a way that it's delivered in streams to a farm, a farm where I have reeds and wheat growing. I have a self-contained forest filled with mega-trees. My home is an island surrounded by a five block wide and 50 block deep(!) ravine, and if anything falls into it it dies instantly, my home has a massive outer wall fortification around the pit which is 30 blocks high. Annnd... I have a similar fortification on a nearby island which is connected by sky-tunnels, some of which have mine-cart tracks laid in.

You don't want to know how long it took me to build that.

Even playing on Hard, I don't really find myself ever in any danger or wanting for stuff. So all that was left to do was explore. I did a lot of that buuut... since there's not much in there, that got a bit boring eventually. However...

Notch will soon be adding stuff like villages, biodomes, and lots of fun little things to find and play with, he's starting up his own company just so he can flesh out Minecraft, so I expect Minecraft to become fun for me again, soon. It's just that right now I have no reason to go outside of my fortification. Fort Wolf has eeeverything, man.

I started dying twice to creepers or spiders (on hard), Im still in my initial cave which has a awful location (you get out and bam you have 2 creepers exploding over your head) So to prevent this I made several beacons in the area and dug a tunnel from my cave to a nearby beach, I putted a door and it works fine as the best way to escape, and now I spend every nightime digging deeper into the earth in another tunnel I digged.
I founded a cave but meh Its too risky to explore it.

I have only recently made Iron stuff it looks like I still have lots to see.

I'm not sure what to do in Minecraft any more, I feel like I've 'won' it. With a system of water traps and red dust switches I'm able to bring to me and trap (or kill, via a pit) any mob I desire. I also have water worked in such a way that it's delivered in streams to a farm, a farm where I have reeds and wheat growing. I have a self-contained forest filled with mega-trees. My home is an island surrounded by a five block wide and 50 block deep(!) ravine, and if anything falls into it it dies instantly, my home has a massive outer wall fortification around the pit which is 30 blocks high. Annnd... I have a similar fortification on a nearby island which is connected by sky-tunnels, some of which have mine-cart tracks laid in.

You don't want to know how long it took me to build that.

Even playing on Hard, I don't really find myself ever in any danger or wanting for stuff. So all that was left to do was explore. I did a lot of that buuut... since there's not much in there, that got a bit boring eventually. However...

Notch will soon be adding stuff like villages, biodomes, and lots of fun little things to find and play with, he's starting up his own company just so he can flesh out Minecraft, so I expect Minecraft to become fun for me again, soon. It's just that right now I have no reason to go outside of my fortification. Fort Wolf has eeeverything, man.

Make an empire state building, or a building located in your life. When the game becomes buyable again I'm gonna build the building in which my dad works in by taking pictures and studying them the next time I go there.

Make an empire state building, or a building located in your life. When the game becomes buyable again I'm gonna build the building in which my dad works in by taking pictures and studying them the next time I go there.

Hmm... that's a thought, I had already made a summer home, and a tower of art (basically getting all the paintings that are in the game in one place), I even made a rollercoaster... but I haven't tried to reconstruct an RL location. ...I might just have a go at that.

Also, mining in the dark is something I've done, but dangerous as well... if you get caught off guard by a Creeper near your base, you could end up having to rebuild a lot of things. I had to mine in the dark to setup my Creeper traps, and I need Creeper traps because otherwise how am I going to get TNT? >_>